Boeing begins work on Indian P-8I

Boeing began manufacturing the first of eight P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy, on Monday, at the Spirit AeroSystems facility in Wichita in Kansas. The long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, based on the Boeing 737, is a version of the P-8A Poseidon being developed for the US Navy.

According to a statement issued by Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems’ workers ‘ cut the P-8I’s first part, a bonded aluminum panel that later will be installed on the fuselage’s upper lobe to support an antenna’.

Source: Boeing

Spirit AeroSystems builds the fuselage, nacelles and pylons of the 737 for Boeing and ‘the panel and other fuselage components will come together on Spirit’s existing Next-Generation 737 production line’. The statement quoted Spirit AeroSystems Fuselage Segment senior vice president/general manager, Mike King, as saying, “P-8I fuselage sections are designed and built using the same processes we use on the commercial 737. We’ve built seven P-8A fuselages to date and continue to increase efficiency as we move forward.”

Boeing says it will deliver the first aircraft to India by January, 2013.